THE Parliamentary Opposition Group has welcomed the Prime Minister’s proposal to review major projects in Malaita Province.
However, the Opposition Group cautions that the admittance by the Prime Minister that the major projects in Malaita needs reviewing is an indication that the DCCG strategy for Malaita was nothing but a failure.
The Opposition Group made this comment following the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Malaita Provincial Government Executive last week.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister acknowledged that his Government needs to reorganize their approaches in implementing the national projects in Malaita; meaning operations on projects in Malaita need restructuring and strategies need refocusing.
“The Prime Minister’s admittance already indicated the project was a failure since the beginning because there was no proper planning and no consultation as the whole approach was not right,” it said.
The statement adds the approach and development model for Malaita has no clear policy direction for the earmarked projects, instead an unrealistic wish list that only raises too much expectation from the people”.
As such, the Parliamentary Opposition welcomes the notion that the whole approach on Malaita be reviewed for the best interest of the people and not be used as a propaganda tool.
The statement adds that the Prime Minister must live up to his promises for Malaita given that a lot of the promises to the people for this year have been nothing but sweet talk.
“Among many projects, these include the East Road Emergency work which was promised to be implemented by early October this year and the bridge replacements for North, East and South Malaita earmarked to be implemented by the end of 2015,” it said.
The Parliamentary Opposition urged the Prime Minister and his Government to start walking the talk and prove that the Government is serious about implementing the projects in Malaita.
“The process of decentralizing national projects is in the best interest not only for Malaitians, but the people of Solomon Islands as a whole,” it said.
